The present invention relates generally to the field of communication, navigation, and user control in a motor vehicle. The invention relates more specifically to systems and methods for display reproduction from a remote source to an in-vehicle display.
Vehicles typically include a number of electronics systems and subsystems such as an audio system, a mobile telephone system, a navigation system, an in-vehicle entertainment system, an engine management system that may be controlled by a user interface, an HVAC system, etc. One or more of these systems may include or be provided by an in-vehicle control system that may be setup in the vehicle. The control system may include a control interface and accompanying controls and may be configured to be coupled or integrated with other vehicle electronic systems, such as a display system or an audio system.
Conventional vehicles having control systems are usually relatively “stand-alone” in that they do not communicate well with other vehicle systems or remote systems. Some conventional vehicles having control systems may communicate with remote sources such as cellular telephones to enable various audio functions such as hands-free cellular communication. Typical in-vehicle control systems may also include visual output displays capable of providing images designed to make the in-vehicle control system more user friendly, useful, or enjoyable. Some typical in-vehicle control systems allow navigational information to be displayed on the visual output display. These systems typically generate the displayed information from an embedded system. Such systems often have a variety of drawbacks. For example, embedded systems with internally generated navigational information often require the use of stored navigational data (e.g., a navigational DVD, etc.). As roads change, users may need to purchase updates to the navigational data, or continue driving with outdated data. Similarly, the generating software or hardware may quickly become outdated. Thus, the utility of a conventional navigational system may decrease over time.
Typical “built-in” or embedded systems may suffer from these same problems outside of the realm of navigational data and software. For example, media players, e-mailing and text messaging communicators, home control systems, and any other control or entertainment system having visual elements may suffer from the problem of outdated data, software, or hardware. For example, a messaging feature of an in-vehicle control system may work properly when first developed, but a messaging protocol may change that renders the in-vehicle control system outdated. Similarly, popular media codecs (i.e., compression and decompression algorithms of music, video, and other media files, etc.) may change over time, sometimes quite rapidly. For many reasons, including convenience and cost, neither users nor original equipment manufacturers (OEMS) want to provide frequent software updates to in-vehicle control systems. Furthermore, as software and hardware features are added to in-vehicle control systems, design and production cost rises for OEMS, vehicle manufacturers, and, eventually, customers and drivers.
There is a need for an in-vehicle control system capable of displaying visual information from remote sources. Further, there is a need for an in-vehicle control system capable of displaying real-time, live, or frequently updating images from a remote source. There is a need for an in-vehicle control system or method capable of displaying bitmapped information generated on a remote source. Further, there is a need for an in-vehicle control system that provides systems and methods for receiving bitmaps from remote sources and displaying them on an in-vehicle output display.
It would be desirable to provide a system and/or method that satisfies one or more of these needs or provides other advantageous features. Other features and advantages will be made apparent from the present specification. The teachings disclosed extend to those embodiments that fall within the scope of the claims, regardless of whether they accomplish one or more of the aforementioned needs.